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GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. (WCCO) — It’s been two years since the Breck boys hockey team won a state championship.

But in the process of the last several years, Breck has become a bit of a hockey school. Every year, it seems the Mustangs are right in the thick of it for state tournament appearances and state championships.

“Everyone knows who the hockey team is there. Everyone knows who the hockey guys there are. We call it the Hockey Mafia. We like it, if you’re a part of it it’s a good thing I guess,” said Grant Opperman, a captain for Breck.

The Mustangs win games by being offensive all the time.

“It’s a good thing and a bad thing,” said Connor Andrele, a Breck captain. “I think we definitely have confidence in our offense. We’re definitely a strongly offensive team, but then some days when we go into a game thinking we’re just going to outscore them and we tend to forget our defensive responsibilities. We really have to work on that a little bit more.”

The truth is they win games because of a commitment to the sport. It’s a dedication that expands beyond the hockey season.

“We’ve got good kids and we work hard in the summer,” said Breck coach Les Larson. “Ever since the Minnesota State High School League passed that law a few years ago where you can actually spend some time practicing in June and July with your kids.”

So it goes like this: When you have kids who love a sport, they get pretty intense when they go about playing that sport.

“These kids take it seriously. Along with the elite leagues, these kids are playing a lot of hockey and it shows,” said Larson.

Put it into words and it sounds something like this.

“There’s a sign in the locker room that says ‘If not us who, if not now when?” and we kind of live by that,” Opperman said.